Commanders DT Daron Payne Contract Details Revealed
The Washington Commanders surprised many by inking defensive tackle Daron Payne to a new contract.
Previously franchise tagged by the Commanders most expected Payne to play 2023 under the tag, getting paid over $18 million along the way.
Instead, he'll now play with a new four-year deal in place and count for just over $10 million against Washington's salary cap this season.
How did the team re-sign Payne and save $8 million while doing so? Those are in the details of the deal, which we now have thanks to Nicki Jhabvala of the Washington Post.
Payne's salary in 2023 is fully guaranteed and set at $2.51 million while he'll also earn a $500k workout bonus and have $7 million of his $28 million signing bonus count against the Commanders' salary cap.
That accounts for the $10.01 million cap hit this year, but the detail to see for Payne is that signing bonus which will be paid in full within the next year or so.
So in real cash, Payne will earn around $31 million in the next calendar year. Much better than the $18 million or so he was going to get with the tag.
Signing bonuses are important for how NFL teams negotiate contracts these days because while the player gets that money upfront, the team's salary cap accounts for it over the life of the contract up to five years.
This means Payne's $28 million signing bonus will count for $7 million per year against the salary cap for the next four years.
If he's released or traded, those bonuses and all remaining guaranteed money come due immediately and form the team's dead cap number in those circumstances.
With $15 million fully guaranteed in salary by Washington on top of over $1 million in other bonuses, Payne is essentially locked in by the franchise for the next two seasons.
The easiest out for the Commanders should they decide to move on from Payne before the end of the contract comes following the third year of this deal, where the team could save as much as $14 million against that year's cap number.
Of course, these deals rarely - if ever - stay in their original form, so those numbers will shift as the years go by depending on restructures and even new extensions potentially coming down the road.
What we know for now is that Washington has its dynamic duo on the interior of its defensive line secured through the 2025 NFL season, when defensive tackle Jonathan Allen's current contract is set to expire.
Find David Harrison on Twitter @DHarrison82 and on the Locked On Commanders podcast.
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